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Germ cells of the centipede Strigamia maritima are specified early in embryonic development.


Type

Article

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Authors

Green, Jack E 

Abstract

We provide the first systematic description of germ cell development with molecular markers in a myriapod, the centipede Strigamia maritima. By examining the expression of Strigamia vasa and nanos orthologues, we find that the primordial germ cells are specified from at least the blastoderm stage. This is a much earlier embryonic stage than previously described for centipedes, or any other member of the Myriapoda. Using these genes as markers, and taking advantage of the developmental synchrony of Strigamia embryos within single clutches, we are able to track the development of the germ cells throughout embryogenesis. We find that the germ cells accumulate at the blastopore; that the cells do not internalize through the hindgut, but rather through the closing blastopore; and that the cells undergo a long-range migration to the embryonic gonad. This is the first evidence for primordial germ cells displaying these behaviours in any myriapod. The myriapods are a phylogenetically important group in the arthropod radiation for which relatively little developmental data is currently available. Our study provides valuable comparative data that complements the growing number of studies in insects, crustaceans and chelicerates, and is important for the correct reconstruction of ancestral states and a fuller understanding of how germ cell development has evolved in different arthropod lineages.

Description

Keywords

Blastopore, Evolution, Germ line specification, Myriapod, Nanos, Vasa, Animals, Arthropods, Biomarkers, Blastoderm, Cell Differentiation, Cell Movement, DNA Primers, Embryo, Nonmammalian, Gene Expression Profiling, Germ Cells, In Situ Hybridization, Molecular Sequence Annotation, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, Scotland, Species Specificity, Transcriptome

Journal Title

Dev Biol

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0012-1606
1095-564X

Volume Title

392

Publisher

Elsevier BV